Railroad joint and chair.



No. 741,440. PATBNTED OCT. 13, 1903. W.- G. BALES.

RAILROAD JOINT AND CHAIR. APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1903.

Patented October 13, 1909;.

Patent @rrrcn.

WILLIAM C. BALES, OF COOLIDGE, GEORGIA.

RAILROAD JOINT AND CHAiR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 741,440, dated October 13, 1903.

Application filed May 25,1908. SerialNo.168,75 7. (N0 model.)

To ctZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. BALES, a citizen of the United States, residing at 000- lidge, in the county of Thomas and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Railroad Joint and Chair, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the joints for uniting and supporting the adjacent abutting ends of railway-rails, and has for its object to simplify and improve devices of this character and produce a device which may be cheaply manufactured, easily and quickly applied, and which will securely support the rails and prevent displacement under the severest strains and concussions.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction, as hereinafter shown and described, and specified in the claim.

In the drawings illustrative of the invention, in which corresponding parts are denoted bylike designating characters, Figure l is a side elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan view. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

The improved joint may be applied to any of the various forms and sizes of rails manufactored and may be applied to rails with or without the usual spike-apertures in the basefianges and clamp-bolt apertures in the vertical webs but for the purpose of illustration the improvements are shown applied to rails having both the spike and clamp-bolt apertures above referred to.

The abutting rail ends are denoted at 10 11, with the usual transverse-spaced spikeapertures in the base-flanges and the transverse-spaced clamp-bolt apertures through the vertical webs, as indicated.

The improvement consists in two principal parts, a chair 12, extending beneath the rail ends and with one edge formed with an integral. clamp-plate 13, embracing the baseflanges, and vertical webs at one side and likewise extended in advance of the rails at the other side and with the free edge turned over and overlapping the body of the chair, as at 14c, and inclined to the plane of the rails, as

tical webs through which the clamp-bolts 15 are adapted to pass when required.

The chair will likewise be provided with spaced apertures 16, corresponding to the spikerecesses in the base-flanges, so thatspikes may be driven through both parts into the ties 17, as represented.

The other principal part of the device consists of a member formed of a clamp'plate portion 18, adapted to engage the vertical webs and the base-flanges of the rails opposite to the portion 13 and with its outer edge 19 extended beneath the overlapping edge 14 and inclined to the plane of the rails, conforming to the incline of the turned over edge 14, the plate 18 19 thus becoming a wedge, which when driven into position very firmly clamps the parts together and ordinarily needs no other fastening means. As a measure of security, however, a pluralityofspikeapertures 20 are formed in alinement with spaced spike-apertures 21 in the adjacent portion of the chair 12, as indicated in Fig. 3, the inner side walls of the apertures 20 being arranged in vertical alinementwith the edges of the base-flanges on the side of the rails to which the wedge-shaped clamp-plate is applied in position to cause the heads of the spikes to rest against and be braced by the edge of the chair-flange. By this means the inclined clamp-plate may be securely held and all danger of its working loose obviated, and in event of the parts becoming loosened by wear or from other causes the joint may be tightened by removing the holding-spikes and driving the clamp-plate farther into the joint until the next pair of apertures register. The clamp-plate 18 is also provided with a plurality of apertures for the clampbolts 15, as shown in Fig. 1 for the same purpose, or so that the clamp-bolts may be adjusted simultaneously with the spikes in the apertures 20.

This makes a very simple, cheaply-constructed, and easily-applied joint, which will hold the rail ends very rigidlyand which can be readily tightened in event of working loose.

Having thus described the invention,what I claim is-- A railway-rail joint comprising a chair adapted to enclasp the base-flangesof the rails on one side and extending beneath the i spikes disposed in said apertures With the rails and beyond the base-flanges on the other side thereof with its free edge turned over to form a flange arranged in a plane above the body of the-chair, a clamp-plate adapted to engage the vertical web of the other side of said rails and conforming in shape to the baseflanges thereof With its lower edge extended under said chair-flange, said plate having spike-apertures formed therein between the free edge of thechair-fiange and the adjacent edges of the base-flanges of the rails, and

heads thereof braced against the free edge of the chair-flange, and against the shanks of I5 which the base-flanges abut at their edges.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM C. BALES.

Witnesses:

WM. M. J ONES, J. W. GRONER. 

